Google's beset by problems, so it's mining for more ads

Google is under antitrust attack and losing ground on rivals, but investors are demanding returns. Pichai faces an advertising Hail Mary...

Focus falls today on the fortunes (quite literally) of Google, as it seeks to make bank for investors while transitioning into being yesterday’s Big Tech hero.

Earnings season only kicked off yesterday, but already the Big Tech hierarchy is being reshaped.

Netflix went first, and smashed Wall Street’s viewer growth predictions by 50%.

“The results managed to blow away already sky-high expectations” and “cement Netflix as the clear winner in the streaming wars”, The WSJ gushed.

Microsoft doesn’t report until next week, but that didn’t stop them hitting the $3 trillion valuation milestone for the first time.

It also received some unexpected news, when Europe exempted Bing search, the Edge browser, and its ad business, from the upcoming Digital Markets Act.

It’s meaningful because the DMA is tough, and all its Big Tech rivals are caught in it.

Bloomberg says:

The EU’s DMA strikes at the heart of the world’s most powerful technology firms deemed to be digital “gatekeepers.”

Apple, Meta, Alphabet…